A Match for Celia

A Match for Celia
GINA WILKINS

A VACATION TO REMEMBERThis vacation was supposed to bring a little excitement into Celia Carson's life–so why couldn't she shake her attraction to a staid, reserved accountant? And yet, she also couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to him than met the eye….Federal agent Reed Hollander's undercover role was working a little too well for his liking. He'd believed Celia to be the key to bringing down a dangerous criminal organization. But he couldn't help wondering, was she the small-town innocent she seemed–or the sophisticated woman he suspected she really was?

A Match for Celia

Gina Wilkins

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

GINA WILKINS

Bestselling romance author Gina Wilkins has written more than ninety books for Harlequin and Silhouette Books. A lifelong resident of Arkansas, she is a four-time winner of the prestigious Maggie Award for Excellence, presented by Georgia Romance Writers, and has won several awards from the reviewers of RT Book Reviews, including a nomination for a Lifetime Achievement Award.

For my husband’s aunts, who have made me part of their special family: Nadine Jaggers, Marene Austine, Edith Rose, Marcelle Wood and June Wilkins. With love.

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Prologue

Frances Carson and her longtime friend, Lila Twining, were spending an exciting Friday evening together. Ignoring the boring diets their physicians had recommended, they had ordered a large pizza—with everything, of course—and were eating it from paper plates in Frances’s living room. They’d rented a video. It starred Mel Gibson, and for a good portion of the film, he appeared without a shirt. Though they were in their seventies, neither Frances nor Lila had lost appreciation for a fine male chest.

The telephone interrupted their avid viewing. Frances sighed and pushed the pause button on the remote control. “I’ll be right back,” she promised her friend.

Lila shrugged and helped herself to another slice of pizza. “Take your time. I’m in no hurry.”

The voice on the other end of the telephone line was young and slightly husky, instantly recognizable to Frances. The caller identified herself, anyway. “Granny Fran? It’s Celia.”

Delighted as always to hear from her youngest grandchild, Frances glanced at one of the photographs lining the top of her old upright piano, a picture of a beautiful woman in her early twenties, dark-haired, blue-eyed, dimpled. “Hello, sweetheart. How are you?”

“I’m fine. And you?”

“Never better,” Frances answered cheerily. “Lila and I were just scarfing pizza and drooling over Mel Gibson’s bare chest.”

Celia laughed. “Granny Fran, what are we going to do with you?”

“Arrange a weekend with Mel?” Frances suggested hopefully.

Celia laughed again. “You’re incorrigible. And I love you for it.”

“I love you, too, darling. So what’s wrong?”

“What makes you think anything is wrong?” Celia countered, the laughter leaving her voice.

“I know you too well. Would you like to talk about it?”

“I don’t want to interrupt your evening with Lila. I’ll call again later.”

“Nonsense. Lila doesn’t mind if you and I talk for a few minutes. Tell me what’s bothering you, Celia.”

“I, uh, I guess you could say I’m having a moral dilemma.”

Frances waited patiently for her granddaughter to elaborate. She could hear Celia draw a deep breath on the other end of the line, as though working up the courage to continue.

“Damien Alexander has asked me to be his guest for a couple of weeks at one of his exclusive resorts,” Celia finally blurted out. “He’ll pay my airfare, provide a suite, all my meals—anything I want.”

“How very generous of him,” Frances said noncommittally.

“He, uh, he promises to be a perfect gentleman if I want him to be, but I can tell he’s hoping I won’t want him to be. I’m sure he hopes that he and I will…you know.”

“Become lovers,” Frances supplied.

“Yes. Rachel is very much against this, of course. She doesn’t want me to go. She’s never trusted Damien. She tends to believe everything she reads about him in those sleazy tabloids. I’ve told her she’s just being an overprotective older sister, but she’s still opposed to it. Of course, she’s been busy with her wedding plans and everything, so we haven’t had time to really talk about it, but I know she won’t change her mind.”

“You’re twenty-four years old, Celia. You don’t need Rachel’s permission to go on a vacation.”